How are Contact Management System Different from CRM?

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Vandita is a passionate writer and IT enthusiast. She is a Computer Lecturer by profession at the University of Delhi. She has previously worked as a Software Engineer with Aricent Technologies. Vandita writes for MarTech Advisor as a freelance contributor.

Contact Management and Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM) are the terms that are sometimes used interchangeably. Are they really the same? If they are, why do we need two different software? This article covers what Contact Management and CRM software do and where they can be used.

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Customer Relationship Management Software, as the name suggests, is designed to aid businesses in managing end-to-end customer experience, right from gaining actionable customer insights using analytics, identifying business opportunities to providing personalized customer experience based on customer preferences and previous interactions.

Understanding the similarities and differences between CMS and CRM will help you determine which software is best suited for your business needs.

FEATURES

CMS: Most CM systems provide following features:

Track communication information and time stamp notes for future reference

Retrieve or review information from archives

Automated reminders and schedule appointments

Online hosting

​​​​​​​CRM: A CRM provides features that are similar to CM but also has following features in addition:

Schedule upcoming actions like - configuring your CRM to send an auto-generated ‘Welcome mail’ for the new customer.

Automated alerts for activities that may require immediate action or follow-up by sales representatives (Opportunity Management)

Provide insights and analytics for strategic PR planning

Ability to develop, implement and track campaigns

​​​​​​​SCOPE

​​​​​​​CMS is generally used to improvise productivity by delegating the responsibility of managing, and organizing contacts, account information and opportunities to the software. If you are a small business or don’t have a large customer base, a CM system is better suited for focusing on individual needs.

A CRM is a more advanced software that which includes more comprehensive customer information providing a 360-degree view of the customer relationship. With CRM you can investigate interaction history with the organization, based on various touchpoints and across channels, audit trail of activities, perform segmentation etc. It is particularly useful for businesses, which have long or complex sales cycle and require ongoing customer interaction.

USERS

CM is generally a standalone system that supports individuals or small teams to better organize their contacts.

CRM system is used across teams, departments and business processes. The relationship of the customer is with the organization and thus all interactions and activities are captured automatically. Multiple people may be working on an account or with a single customer, with each team member shouldering a different responsibility e.g. generating a lead, assisting the customer, providing customer support. CRM gives a complete view of the customer and every team member is aware of the progression, so the entire organization speaks the common language. This helps provide an organized and customer-centric experience.

DATA

CM is more about data organization so there is not much scope of analytics or business insights. It will capture data for you and help you retrieve it whenever you need it.

With CRM you can capture data from various sources to generate reports or glean actionable insights. You can view sales pipelines and forecasts in real-time, get alerts on exceptions to take timely actions. Here it is more about automating segmentation, presenting information logically, prioritizing accounts, and identifying activities.

WEB BASED

Most CM systems are web-based so that you can access software from remote locations and avoid situations where a system crash can deny access to your data.

CRM systems are cloud-based as multiple people across the departments need to share and use the system, making it easier to collaborate.

Which solution to use?

The answer lies in what you want from your system. Do you want to manage your contacts in a single database or your goal is to enhance the relationship with your customers? How large a team you have that will use the system or pitch your customers?

For some businesses contact management system may be sufficient, where you need to simply manage contacts, store essential information, occasionally track transactions and share these contacts. CM system is easy to implement, set up and use.

On the other hand, for identifying opportunities and patterns, gathering a holistic view of your customers, and for creating a client-centric strategy, a CRM system will be better suited for your business goals.